Package and method of forming the same



E. J. CONLEY.

PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7, 1921.

1,898,8Q0, PatenteA Nov. 29, 19211.,

EDWIN JEROME CONLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME.-

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NOV. 29, 1921.

Application filed January 7, 1921. Serial No. 435,574.

ing the same, which shall have, among other advantages, that of permitting the package to be inclosed in a hermetically sealed foil or similar sheet metal covering. when such covering is made of relatively thin foil or other soft meta-l covering and even when the contents of the package are relatively yielding, and to such ends my invention consists in the package and method of forming the same hereinafter specified.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a package forming one embodiment of my invention.

.Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a device for sealing the overlapping edges of the foil envelop on the broad side of the container, and partly sealing such edges where they overlie the top and bottom of the package.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a device for sealing the foil or other soft metal envelop on the bottom or top of the package, shown in Fig. 1,-for rendering it hermetic.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view. showing the sealing device of Fig. 3 applied to the overlapping portions of the envelop on the broad side of the package.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing the sealing device of Fig. 2 applied to the bottom folds of the envelop on the package.

More specifically stating the occasion for and object of my invention:

It has long been desired to provide packages with envelops made of metal foil or other form of soft metal, which should be fused together so as to make the package hermetically sealed.

Prior to my invention, however, such packages have not been made with such envelops of foil thin enough to reduce the cost to a point where it has been practicable bodime-nt to use them. When it has been attempted to use sufficiently thin foil, either the material of the envelop has been punctured or injured so as not to protect the package, or.

the seal has been imperfect, with the same result.

My invention has solved these difliculties and resulted in a package which is both hermetically sealed and is produced at a cost enabling it to be extensively used.

Both aspects of my invention (the package and the process of making the same) are capable of being embodied or practiced in many different ways and, while I shall illus- 'trate the invention by one of the best embodiments known tome, such embodiment is to be regarded only as typical of many possible embodiments, and my invention is not to be confined thereto.

The embodiment which I have chosen for such illustration is a cigarette package and method of forming the same, and such eminvolvesboth because of the shape of the package (with its rounded edges) and the nature of the package (being relatively soft and yielding)--difliculties which illustrate the invention to advantage.

' My package, made according to my method, overcomes these objections.

Referring to the drawings, the cigarette package in Fig. 1 may consist of cigarettes wrapped in paper, like the ordinary cigarette package, which package is inclosed in metal foil that is preferably relatively thin. In the presentinstance, a. rectangular sheet. of foil 1 has been wrapped about thepackage, one of the end edges 2 of such sheet of foil overlapping the other end edge 3, so that between the lines 2 and 3 the foil is double, while outside of said lines the foil is single in thickness. At the top and bottom of the package, the foil has been folded together in the following manner: First, the foil along the edges Land 5 of the package has been folded flat against the bottom of the package. leaving two rhomboidal flaps, one being the flap (0, b, c, and (l, and the other being the flap 6, f, g, and h, which flaps have been folded against the bottom of the package, the latter flap being folded over the former. The foil at the top of the package is similarly folded.

In order to hermetically seal the package,

I desire to fuse the overlapping edges 2 and 3 of the foil together, and also to fuse the four flaps on each end of the package.

In order to make a package which is of low enough cost to be commercially practicable, it is desirable to use such thin foil that the problem of fusing it together is exceedingly difiicult, for the foil is very easy to tear or puncture or burn, and it is necessary to use so much heat tofuse two or more thicknesses together that if such heat reaches the single thickness, it will burn the latter and make a hole.

In order to fuse the foil envelop of my package, so as to seal it hermetically, I provide the following devices:

I have discovered that by pressing the package having the foil upon it against a correspondingly shaped, suitably heated surface so as to have surface contact, I can fuse two or more thicknesses of the foil wrapper. This is preferably, but not necessarily, done without relative movement of said foil along said surface during the contact.

In Fig. 2, I have illustrated a device for? fusing the overlapping edges 2 and 3 of the foil. This device consists of a long metal block 6 having a surface 7, which is not wider than the amount of the said overlap, being the distance between the lines 2 and 3, so that the sealing device will only touch the foil where it is of the double thickness which it is desired to fuse together, and will not touch the foil where it is of a single thickness.

For a reason to be later explained, the sealing device 6 is provided with shoulders 8-8, which embrace and overlie the ends of the package where the overlapping end edges 2 and 3 of the foil pass across the top and bottom of said package. The heater 6 is shown as heated by a current from electric leads 9 and 10, and the heater may contain a resistance coil as a heating element or be heated in any other desired manner.

lVhen, in the practice of my method, the sealing device 6 is applied to the package, the package and such device are preferably merely brought together by a motion perpendicular to the large fiat side of the package, and they are pressed together just long enough to soften and fuse the overlapping ends of the foil.

In order, in the practice of my method, to seal the foil at the top and bottom of the package, the sealing device illustrated in Fig. 3 is used. Such device consists preferably of a base 11, with which are connected electric leads 12 and 13, which heat the base in any desired manner, and of a plate 14 secured to or formed on the base. The plate 14, as shown in Fig. 5, is made enough smaller than the bottom or top of the package, so that it does not extend beyond the.

portions of the foil cover which are of two or more thicknesses, thus avoiding contact between the plate 14: and the envelop at any point where it consists of but a single thickness of foil. The time of contact and the temperature of theplate being properly regulated causes a fusion of the overlapping flaps, without injury to the rest of the enage is completely and hermetically sealed.

It will be understood that, instead of having the four flaps meet at the bottom, they, could be made-to meet upon one ofthe large sides or upon one of the narrow sides thereof, and similarly the overlapping edges 2 and 3 of the foil could be made to overlap upon any of the sides or faces of the package.

It will also be understoodthatthe foil could be applied to the package in other ways than by means of such folds as illustrated and would still accomplish the objects of my mvention. The foil envelop also might be partly formed before being applied to the cigarette package and then the remainder of the formation and sealing or fusing might be accomplished on the package.

The sheet of which my foil is made could be lined with paper before being applied to the package, as by having the paper fastened thereto by adhesive.

My package, made in the manner which I have descrlbed, has, among others, the following advantages:

It is well within the requirements of commerce as to cost.

Its weight would be so light as not to add materially to the cost of transportation of the package.

By my method a package can be successfully sealed with the metal foil envelop, even though the package be relatively soft and yielding, as, for instance, is the cigarette package.

By my method, also, an envelop of relatively thin foil can be successfully fused to make it air-tight or moisture-proof, and without injury to the portions thereof which are of a single thickness of foil.

The tobacco is prevented from losing the flavoring therein or from changing the for mula by evaporation.

The tobacco can be depended upon to burn at the same rate, even though the package be kept for a long time before using, as the tobacco retains its moisture.

For the same reason the tobacco will not shrink and fall out of the tube or paper when it is being smoked.

The cigarettes will keep safely in damp climates and weather without becoming moist.

They can also be kept without harm where odors are present such as from camphor or fumes, which it is objectionable to have the cigarettes take up.

By my method an envelop can be made of foil of 1/1000 of inch in thickness and it can be sealed" Withoutthe'usej of a flux or any soldering material.

I find that forfoil oftheisaid thickness a temperature of from 100' to 600 degrees F. will operate successfully,

, Many other-articles than cigarettes can be advantageously sealed into metal-covered packages according to my invention For instance: boxes of cigars can be protected according to my invention, and coffee thus sealed will retain its flavor. Cheese and other foods andcaridy can also thus be protected. My process has advantages even when used with thick foil.

The sealing'devices which are disclosed herein are not claimed in this application, but are claimed in a separate application.

By the term relatively thin as applied to foil, I mean to designate foil thinner than that which has ordinarily. been fused together, where there was liability of injuring the single thicknesses of foil, such, for instance, as foil less than 3/1000 of an inch in thickness, although I do not limit myself to that precise thickness.

By the term edges, except where used with the term flaps, is, intended to be generic to all edges of the foiland to include, for instance, both edges and flaps.

I claim:

1. An inclosure for packages comprising relatively thin foil having its edges sealed by metal. 1

2. An inclosure for packages comprising relatively thin foil having its edges fused together.

3. An inclosure for packages comprising relatively thin foil having its edges overlapped in opposite directions and fused together.

4. A package comprising relatively yielding contents and a foil covering having its edges fused together.

5. A package comprising relatively yielding contents and a foil covering having its edges overlapped in opposite directions and fused together.

6. A package comprising contents and an inclosure composed of relatively thin foil, the edges of said foil being fused together.

7. A package comprising relatively yielding contents and a hermetically sealed inclosure consisting of foil having its edges overlapped in opposite directions and fused together.

ing contents and a hermetically sealed inclosure consisting of relatively thin foil the edges of said foil being fused together.

9. A package comprlsing relatively yielding contents, and an inclosure consisting of relatively thin foil having its edges over lapped in opposite directions and fused together.

,10. A package comprising cigarettes an an inclosure consisting of relatively thin foil having its edges overlapped in opposite directions and fused together.

11. The method offorming envelops for packages comprising .so folding relatively thin foil that its edges will overlap in opposite directions and s0 pressing said edges and a hot surface together as to form surface contact therebetween and metallically unite said edges.

12. The process of forming packages comprising so wrapping a package with metal foil that the edges of said foil shall overlap, and uniting said edges together by so pressing them against the contents of the package by a heated surface as to form surface contact between said surface and said 13. The process of forming packages having relatively soft contents, which comprises so inclosing said contents in foil that the edges of the foil shall overlap, and uniting saidedges together by so pressing them against the said contents by a heated surface that there shall be surface contact between said heated surface and said foil.

14:. The process of forming packages comprising inclosing said packages in foil and overlapping edges of said foil and pressing said overlapped edges only against the contents bv a heated surface, so that there shall be surface contact between said heated surface and said flaps, and avoiding contact between said heated surface and any single thickness of the foil.

15. The process of forming a package comprising wrapping a sheet of foil about said package so as to overlap edges thereof,

folding the foil to form overlapping flapson a surface of said package which is at an angle to the one on which said edges are overlapped, uniting said overlapped edges by pressing them against the package by a heated surface and by surface contact therebetween, similarly fusing a portion of said overlapped edges where they extend across said last mentioned surface, and fusing said overlapped flaps by pressing them with a heated surface.

16. The process of forming a package comprising wrapping a sheet of foil about said package so as to overlap edges thereof,

folding the foil to form overlapping flaps on a surface of the package which is at an 7 angle to the surface on which said edges 8. A package comprising relatively yields edges by pressing them against the package by a heated surface and by surface contact therebetween, similarly fusing a portion of said overlapped edges where they extend across said last mentioned surface, and fusing said overlapped flaps by pressing them with a heated surface, said heated surface being only sufficiently large to touch portions of the foil having two or more thicknesses.

17. The method of forming envelope for packages comprising pressing overlapped portions of foil between a surface heated to a fusing temperature and a backing softer than the said surface.

18. The method of forming envelops for packages comprising pressing overlapped portions of foil between a metal surface heated to a fusing temperature and a backing softer than said metal surface.

19. The method of forming envelops for packages comprising. pressing overlapped portions of foil between a metal surface heated to a fusing temperature and a relatively soft non-heat conducting backing.

20. The method of forming inelosures for packages comprising pressing overlapped portions of foil between a surface heated to a fusing temperature and a relatively nonheat-conducting backing.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing,

I have hereunto set my hand this 3d 'day of January, 1921.

EDWIN JEROME CONLEY. 

